Chemical Agents in the Former Yugoslavia

There are four known Chemical Warfare facilities
operating in the former Yugoslavia, specifically in Serbia. The four known
facilities currently involved in the research, production, and storage of
chemical warfare agents in the Serbia are: Prva Iskra in Baric, Serbia;
Miloje Blagojevic in Lucani, near Casak, Serbia; Milojie Zakic and Merima
in Krusevac, Serbia; and the Military Technical Institute in Potoci near
Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The equipment in the Military Technical
Institute in Potoci was disassembled by Serb troops in February 1992 and
moved to the Lucani facility in Serbia. The facility in Lucani is, until
the initiation of hostilities thought to have been producing sarin. In
addition, the JNA (Former Yugoslav Army until the breakup in 1991) and the
VJ (current Yugoslav Army) has worked with Iraqi specialists on CW since 1989.

This raises the concern as yet unreported in the press that Milosevic may
be planning to use or threatening to use, as a last resort, chemical
weapons in Kosovo or in greater Serbia, especially if NATO ground troops
enter the conflict. Considering
that Milosevic has a well-established history of genocide and other crimes
against humanity, chemical warfare
may be Yugoslavia's weapon of mass destruction may be the only "trump card"
to even the odds in an asymmetrical ground war with NATO.

The VJ and its predecessor the Yugoslav Peoples
Army (YPA) also had an extensive and sophisticated chemical weapons
program prior to the breakup of Yugoslavia. The army of the Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) inherited much of this
program and that stockpiles and offensive and defensive military doctrine
exist for its use potentially during the current crisis.

Before the dissolution of Yugoslavia in 1991, the JNA's chemical weapons
program produced the numerous chemical warfare agents to include sarin,
sulfur mustard, the psycho chemical incapacitant BZ and CS. They also
weaponized these agents in plants in Lucani, Baric and in Krusevac. The VJ
has produced sarin and made it into a weapon (app 50 tons) at the Lucani
Facility, and produced smaller quantities of tabun, soman and VX nerve
agents (app 50 tons combined) at the facility in Krusevac. In addition the
VJ forces are thought to have large quantities (app 400 tons) of sulfur
mustard and produced smaller amounts of nitrogen mustard and lewsite (app
30 tons). The VJ is thought to have stored at the Krusevac facility
approximately 15 tons of phosgene.

The development of chemical agents and weapons in the former Yugoslavia
began in the late 1960s. This program did not become overtly offensive
until the late 1970s when the JNA developed the offensive doctrine for the
use of BZ which was incorporated in a classified manual published in 1981.
Further experimentation, development and testing continued during the
1980s, and by the time of the dissolution of the Socialist Republic of
Yugoslavia, the JNA apparently had developed and produced 122mm, 152mm,
and 155mm artillery shells; air-delivered bombs (of an unknown type);
122mm, 128mm rockets, and 262mm rockets; and chemical warfare mines. There
are unconfirmed reports that the JA has binary sarin munitions fir use with
155mm artillery shells.

According to a public document, "Yugoslav Army Involvement With Chemical
Weapons," prepared by the Yugoslav Federal President's office in September
1991, thousand of rockets for the 262mm multiple rocket launcher system,
were produced with chemical weapons warheads filled with phosgene and BZ.
In the same document, the Yugoslav Federal President's office also claimed
that several thousands of these rockets - it is not indicated what type -
were shipped to Iraq in 1989-90.

Manufacturing slowed after the dissolution of Yugoslavia but
stockpiles which are in control of the VJ have remained viable and have
not been destroyed.

The JNA also, produced hand grenades, rifle-propelled grenades, mortar
shells, and possibly also artillery shells and 128mm rockets filled with
irritants CS and CN. The production of CS- and CN- filled grenades
continued at least until 1993. According to Serbian Army manuals, the
chemical incapacitant BZ was put into hand grandes. The principal storage
facility for these weapons is thought to be in Lucani.

In April 2000 Yugoslavia became the 134th nation -- and the last in Europe -- to agree to adhere to the convention banning chemical weapon. This requires Yugoslavia to renounce production, stockpiling or use of chemical weapons and report those chemicals that can be used for military as well as peaceful goals.